It is known that manual breast massage increases the amount of milk expressed in a breastfeeding session (Bowles, B. C. (2011). Breast Massage: A “Handy” Multipurpose Tool to Promote Breastfeeding Success. Clinical Lactation, 2(4), 21-24.). Health benefits of compression massage during breastfeeding or breast pumping include preventing and relieving mastitis, plugged ducts, and engorgement (Witt, A. M. et. al. (2016). Therapeutic Breast Massage in Lactation for the Management of Engorgement, Plugged Ducts, and Mastitis. Journal of Human Lactation, 32(1), 123-31.). When combined with electric pumping, manual massage both increased milk production (Morton, J. et. al. (2009). Journal of Perinatology, 29, 757-64.) and caloric content (Morton, J. et. al. (2012). Journal of Perinatology, 32, 791-96.) for preterm infants. The benefit is not limited to preterm infants, however. Compression stimuli around the areola increases breast pump efficiency more generally by stimulating the release of necessary hormones (Alekseev, N. P. et. al. (1998). Compression stimuli increase the efficacy of breast pump function. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 77(2), 131-39.). While manual massage has been used for centuries, the ability to pump efficiently hands-free would greatly improve the modern mother's productivity.
There are existing systems that combine hands-free compression and pumping. U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,840 B1, for example, discloses a simple hands-free bra that supports a breast pump system. It does not, however, address the need for compression. Some breast pumps have been designed to mimic manual compression, such as that described by the application US 2005/0234370 A1, which discloses that pressure is applied by a “plurality of opposing pairs of expression bellows.” At least two patent applications describe hands-free compression systems to be used in conjunction with breast pumps using pneumatic modes of compression (US 2014/0378946 A1 and US 2015/0065994 A1). However, the prior art does not incorporate systems or methods that effectively mimic the best practices of manual compression, as indicated by research and expertise of lactation specialists, in an efficient device with low power requirements.